(The Center Square) – A weekend attack on an off-duty New York Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent would never have happened if not for the Biden administration’s harmful border policies and local policies protecting illegal aliens, said Department of Homeland Security and ICE officials at a news conference Monday.
“What did we think was going to happen from policies like that? When you take a dangerous individual and you allow them to never face consequences for the acts that they’re perpetuating against the public and then you end up in a situation that could have been prevented,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
A noncitizen in the U.S. illegally who previously had been arrested and released in New York City four times is accused of shooting the agent in the face and arm as the agent was enjoying an evening out in Manhattan Saturday.
New York City is a sanctuary city, meaning it is committed to limited cooperation with ICE when noncitizens are arrested on suspicion of having committed a crime or are charged with committing a crime. When ICE discovers that someone who has been apprehended by the police is in the country illegally, it may issue a detainer to the correctional facility to hold the individual until ICE can take custody. Institutions in sanctuary cities often defy ICE detainers so ICE is not able to obtain the individual from local law enforcement.
“Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals. Hard stop,” said Trump border czar Tom Homan.
The NYPD and the New York Department of Correction are “barred from honoring ‘detainer requests’ from ICE, UNLESS that person has been convicted of violent or serious crimes, is on the federal terrorist watch list, and when ICE officials have a judicial warrant,” as of March 1, 2025, according to Legal Services NYC.
“I’ve been doing this since 1984; I’ve never seen a situation where I see it today,” Homan said. “You see the polls. Everybody agrees we should be arresting public safety threats, illegal aliens, but the city council here has locked us out of Rikers Island. Are you kidding me?”
Homan reiterated his promise that ICE would “flood the zone” by sending more ICE agents to sanctuary cities. Noem promised they would continue to push to remove noncitizens from the country.
“We’re going to double down,” Noem said, “and make sure that… once again, America can be a country where the rule of law matters.”
